Super Mario Kart is arguably one of the most influential video games of all time. It was notable at the time of it's release for it's use of the SNES's Mode 7 technology which gave the illusion of racing in a three-dimensional space. It's concept of a colorful cast of characters racing in miniature vehicles, and using weapons against their competitors, has served as the blueprint for countless racing games since, in the form of not only it's many sequels but also a huge number of imitators. Even the designers of futuristic anti-gravity racer Wipeout acknowledged Super Mario Kart, with its speed boost pads and weapons, as an influence.

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Gameplay

An example of the single-player split-screen

Super Mario Kart is a racing game that can be played with one or two players (the latter being split-screen), contrary to the other games in the series where at least four people can play (in Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart Wii, 8 and 12 players can play at once, respectively). In single player mode, it will still be split-screen though the bottom will feature a map of the stage.

Before the player starts the race, he/she has to pick one of eight different characters, including Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Yoshi, Bowser, Toad, Donkey Kong Jr., and Koopa Troopa. Afterwards, they have to pick one of four different cups with five courses in each. After each course, the player is rewarded a set amount of points; nine for first, six for second, three for third, and one for fourth. The top three characters with the most amount of points in the end of the five races wins. If the players get lower than fourth place, they have to retry the race (like Mario Kart 64 and Mario Kart: Super Circuit), costing one of the player's four karts. When no more karts remain, the mode is over.

In all, there are three levels of difficulty - 50cc, 100cc and 150cc, with each one resulting in faster karts and harder computer controlled characters.

There are a multitude of different items that help the player out, some being better than others. For example, the Koopa Troopa Shell and Bananas aren't the best items available, though others such as the Red Koopa Troopa Shell are capable of homing in on enemies and thus give those who get it a slight advantage. Each computer controlled character has their own special item that only they can use. For example, only the computer Yoshi can use Yoshi Eggs.

Trivia

The computer controlled Toad and Peach are able to throw Poison Mushrooms which are not usable by the player.

Several sound effects from Super Mario World are reused. For example, the music in Bowser's Castle sounds the same as Super Mario World's final battle theme. Such as the Lakitu and Thwomps bear a resemblance to the ones in Super Mario World. However, the Poison Mushrooms in this game act like themselves if a normal-size driver hits it, but as Super Mushrooms if a small driver hits it.

All twenty of the courses appear in Mario Kart: Super Circuit but all of the track hazards are removed. Item boxes are at diffrent places too.

In the manual, the name of the vehicles known as "karts" (when referring to the remaining ones during Mario kart GP) were misspelled with a "C".

In the Japanese version, Peach and Bowser are seen drinking alcohol during the Trophy Presentation. The North American and PAL versions altered the sprites to simply as Peach tossing the bottle up in the air and then catching it, and Bowser shaking the bottle up and down, in order for the game to be suitable for all ages, though ESRB that produced ratings for video games was established two years later.